Railway draft gear



. 2 Sheets-Sheet l.

IIIIII-Jl w. R. HE'wlT-r RAILWAY DRAFT GEAR)l Filed sept. 3, 1929 Sept, 13', 1932.

' A TTORNEYS.

'sept 13, 1493.2u

W. .R. ,HEWTT RAILWAY DRAFT GEAR Filed sept. 3. 1929 zlsneets-sheet '2 R JNVENToR.

7s. mmm

Patented Sept. 13, 1932 umm rs1; MES

,PATENT-f WILLIAM It. IIEWITT, 0F NEWY'o/nmrn; YJ:

"Y revises RAILWAY DRAFT GEAR;`

` 51.1 for railroad "cars which willabsorb andl cushionheavy endwise shocks created both by impactf and` by 'a sudden pull exerted on the coupler.

.In carrying outltheinvention, I provide a coupler connected tothe frame of the car for limited endwise movement. Opposite sets of leaf springsv are provided which yieldingly resist endwise movement of the coupler in either direction so as to absorb any shocks in- 3- 15 cident to impact when cars are coupled due to sudden pulls of the locomotive.

One form which the invention may assume is exemplified in the following description and illustrated by vway ofexample in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a plan section of a draft gear embodying the preferred form of my invention, with parts broken away to more clearly disclose certain features of construction.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the draft gear.`

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the draft gear taken on line III-III of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4c is a fragmentary vievv in plan sec`l tion through the draft gear showingV the springs in the upper chamber placed under tension by a Vpull exertedon the coupler.l

Fig. 5 is a similar view showingv the of the vcar floor. The structure 10 may be separate, as shown, or may be composed of the ends of the channel iron stringers co' operating Ato form a rectangular housing.

stringers. The Vdraft gear includes what I prefer to term a socket member 11 which isV y reciprocably mounted between the channel trated. This socket member 11 is forme-d longitudinal movenlentV ofthe pin" 16 and; y l

springs placed under tension by thrust im- Y tional design and which form the backbone The draft gear of the car isV connected to these A Y Y l y U n `wedg e, whichjvvedge plates'bear against'the V' springs so that `longitudinal movement of the ffsocket member 11 relative tothe.jstrin'`g`er s 10A Q willtcause' :compression of the sets of springs..Avv

"3.1929; v'seriali nacemos.'

`with a semi-sphericalI sockety 12 which re-V 'ceives thesemi-'spherical end 14 of ac'oupler "15. This 'coupler extends inwardly'lbetween the' stringersl() and intol the hollow socket lmember` 11` with, its;i end, 14: enfga'gin'gy the`^5`5 p socket 12. v-

A key or connecting vpinl extends transversely through the coupler 15 and "its ends project vthrough longitudinal slots lgformed v* in'the'webs ofthe stringers 1 0..A`` The pin '16260 also extends through thefsocket member 11' so `that thecupler 15' andthesocket;11""will inoveaxially in unison.k The slots 17 permit Consequently, of the Socket member 11,

` I At thei'nner end of thesocket member 1 1, it

is Vformed"withV an vupper' chamberA 18 iand Vllower chamber 19 which are separated ,b yl'a llpartitionpZQ.' The upper chamber 18 receives 4,.: iva pluralityof nested,` bowed ileafsprings 21 70 and the chamber .19 receives a similar setof springs vvitlijthe exception that the two; Asets y of springs'are oppositeiy bowed.`

A the extreme inner endlof theisockelt`. V

member 1l it is formed withV a piston' or""75 plunger ,22 which isadapted'to .engage a cyl# inderi23. The piston"^22 and themcylinderf23 constitute `a dash pot for the purpose` o fr'etarding inwardmovement ofthe socket'member llkunder'certain conditions; as willfbeSO hereinafter setforth., l

Arranged. at one sideof the upper chamber 18Ais1a wedge plate-,124e` .having a Wedge 25 toppositely inclined Vfaces and. is adapted. touS5` `cooperate withavved'ge socket 26 having' faces agreeing with the` faces ofthewedge.

yAt the opposite side of the lower vcha mber19, I provide a wedge plate 27 which is identical...

with thevvedge plate 24. f A wedge socket`28 '90 is also provided for the chamber 19 and cooperates vwith the wedge. 29 on-thewedge Aplate 27. From this,` it willbe obvious vthe springs in'each1chamber`18 andf19 are...

provided with a separate wedge .plate and? cov. carried by each of said plates and extending the chamber 18 will, of course, be compressed ina direction opposite to the direction in which the springs in the chamber 19v will be compressed, as the springs are oppositely disposed and are provided with oppositely arranged wedge means.

' InA operation of the'device, a sudden pull eXertedon the coupler will result in forward movement of thesocket member 11and the inclined faces of the wedges and 29 will ride on the inclined faces of the sta-- .y tionary wedge sockets 26 and 28 and will move the wedge platesv 27 and 211 inwardly r` toward each other and result in compressing the'sets of springs in Vthe chambers 18 and 19. -The forward movement ofthe socket ynia-einherv 11 Vis limited by' engagement with` stop members lV secured to the channels or stringers V10.v .Thus, the forward movement of thecoupler 15 will be yie'ldingly resisted lby thesets of springs in the chambers-18 and 19,so ais-to absorb any shock and prevent the 25 and, Vconsequently,to the car; c

same from'beingimparted ,to the stringere lO In the event that asuddenend thrust is imposedon the' coupler 15, thek wedge sur- Y i andpositionedfto enter said cylinder upon movement of the socket towardy member.

3. In a draft the stop in opposite lsides thereof, .a socketd mounted for reciprocation `in said housing, Eresilient means carried :by the socket, plates engaging said resilient means and wedgescarriedby the plates and extending through saidopenings whereby reciprocation of said socket will :gear of the character de-V scribed, a housing having openings formed cause the wedges. to engage thefedges of the openings and effect a compression ofthe re' WILLIMKHEWITT. l.,

sil'ient means.

faces en '.,the stationary wedge sockets 26 will c j y eausethe wedge yplates '-24 and 27 to move 30: inwardly 'andplace thesprings lin; theehamgshock. A portion .ofthe shockwillxbe'ab gsorbed by the airvv cushion between .the piston bers 18 and 19 vkunder tension and vabsorb the 22 and the inner end .of v the cylinder 23. c When a .pull is exerted upon the coupler 15 and released,.the springs, Aof course, will tend to return the coupler to itsoriginal position.

Y* The, movement rearwardly ofthe socketl Y member11 is, of cou-rse, limitedby the member 36 Vfastened to .thewstringers 10 and in which the cylinder 23 is formed.

' From theforegoing it is obvious that I have provided means for cushioning any shocks imparted .to thefcou-pler in either din rectionzand, while I'havedisclosed the prefer-redl Vform of-my invention, `I wish it understood that various changes mits constructionmay be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the in- .Y Y

vention as defined'inthe appended claims.

Having thus'describedmy invention, what f Y vI vclaigm and desire tov secure byIietters Pat- 1. A railway draft'gearrcomprising a pair Yfof channel irons, :a socket member reciprocally mounted. therebetween, oppositely disposed sets of leaf springs carried by said socket member, a plate cooperating with each v y.

.of said setsofsprings and reciprocabletransversely of said socket member, and a wedge through openings` formed. insaid channel l lirons -fwherebylongitudinal motion of Vrsaid socket member will cause engagement.'k be- Said'-wedges and the edges. of .said-A 65I Openings and-cause saidplates tomove .transf ,izo 

